Okinawa Collection

Removed during the early Showa Era, 26 Ryukyuan skeletons found at Kyoto University

February 16, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

By Takahiro Miyagi

The Japanese news article is available here.

The Ryukyu Shimpo published an article about the skeletons, which were excavated at the Mumujana (百按司) Grave in Unten of Nakijin Village (今帰仁村、運天) in the early Showa era, had been kept at Kyoto University.

[Image source: https://goo.gl/maps/GQJS2YvaApA2]

The article refers to the Ainu people’s skeletons housed at Hokkaido University. The families of the deceased were able to get the remains back.

UH Mānoa Library has some materials related to Nakijin-son.

• Title:  Nakijinjō ato shūhen iseki han’i kakunin chōsa hōkokusho / [hakkō Nakijin-son Kyōiku Iinkai] (『今帰仁城跡周辺遺跡範囲確認調查報告書』/  [発行今帰仁村敎育委員会]).
• Title: The promise to Hokuzan / Pattie H. Miyashiro. (Fiction, written in English)

The musical, Allegiance, based on George Takei’s internment camp experience, comes to Honolulu on February 19, 2017.

• Date: February 19, 2017 (The Day of Remembrance for Japanese Americans)
• Show Time: 12:55 PM (2.5 hours)
• Location: Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 IMAX & RPX
  (735 B Iwilei Road Honolulu, HI 96817)
• Rating: PG

“Their loyalty was questioned, their freedom taken away, but their spirit could never be broken. Rejoice in one family’s triumphant story of hope, love, and forgiveness in the new Broadway musical: Allegiance.

Inspired by true events, Allegiance is the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended when they and 120,000 other Japanese-Americans are forced to leave their homes following the events of Pearl Harbor. Sam Kimura seeks to prove his patriotism by fighting for his country in the war, but his sister, Kei, fiercely protests the government’s treatment of her people. An uplifting testament to the power of the human spirit, Allegiance follows the Kimuras as they fight between duty and defiance, custom and change, family bonds and forbidden loves.” [http://allegiancemusical.com/]

The Center for Okinawan Studies (COS) at UH Mānoa has a few paragraphs describing the conditions that Okinawan-Hawaiians faced during the WWII.